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Monday, July 3, 2017

Remembering Laura Branigan

Today, I am grateful for the life and career of the late Laura Branigan.

In the late 1970s, several years after attending the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Branigan got her first break—touring
Europe as a backing vocalist for Canadian singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen.
Although she signed as a solo artist with Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic
Records, in 1979, her first album—SILVER DREAMS—went unreleased despite the
first single making a blip on the BILLBOARD dance chart. With music fans tiring
of disco and the second British invasion not yet landing ashore in America,
Branigan’s booming four-octave voice actually worked against her during those
early days at Atlantic, with the label’s A&R folks scrambling to position
her as a pop singer. When her nine-track debut album—uninspiringly titled
BRANIGAN—was finally released in 1982, the singer’s elusive breakout success
would finally come by way of a reworked cover of an Italian love song,
“Gloria.” That song would eventually go on to be certified platinum and spend a
then-record 36 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two and
landing Branigan her first and only Grammy nomination as a solo artist. For
better or for worse, “Gloria” would become the singer’s signature hit.

Subsequent releases proved the singer more than a one-hit
wonder. As European synthpop took hold of the decade, more Top 40 hits came
with “Solitaire”, “Self Control”, “Spanish Eddie”, and “Shattered Glass.”
Unfortunately, Branigan’s career was marked by material that rarely rose to the
caliber of her magnificent voice, with a few notable exceptions like “How Am I
Supposed to Live Without You” (penned by pre-fame Michael Bolton), “Cry Wolf”
(which was later covered by Stevie Nicks), and her emotionally raw take on
Jennifer Rush’s juggernaut ballad “The Power of Love” (predating Celine Dion’s
worldwide smash).

Following the release of her final album, 1993’s OVER MY
HEART, Branigan went on hiatus from the music industry to care for her ailing
husband, Larry Kruteck, who would eventually die of colon cancer in 1996. Her
career never recovered from either the heartbreak of losing her husband or the
hiatus, during which grunge became the music du jour and poor management
further derailed her career. She was contractually obligated to Atlantic to
deliver two new tracks for the 13-track greatest hits compilation THE BEST OF
BRANIGAN (1995), and she chose covers of former Lone Justice frontwoman Maria
McKee’s “Show Me Heaven” (which had been an international smash from the DAYS
OF THUNDER soundtrack) and a high-energy cover of Donna Summer’s disco nugget
“Dim All the Lights.” Aided by a fun, drag queen-infused video, the latter
would go on to become a moderate Billboard Top 40 Dance hit.

Her prospects for a comeback dimmed again in 2001 when a
ten-foot fall from a ladder she was using to hang wisteria outside her lakeside
home in Westchester County, New York, resulted in two broken femurs that
necessitated rods and pins in both legs and months of intensive physical
therapy. Branigan was again dipping her toe back into music with a few
newly-recorded tracks—including a dance remake of ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It
All” and a haunting cover of the late Eva Cassidy’s “I Know You By Heart”—when
she died in her asleep at the Long Island home she shared with her
Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother in August of 2004. She was only 52 at the time of
her untimely passing, which was attributed to an undiagnosed ventricular brain
aneurysm. Her ashes were scattered over the Long Island Sound.

Despite her modest catalog, Branigan has remained one of my
all-time favorite female vocalists, largely based on my experiences seeing her
perform live. She was truly an artist whose recordings did her extraordinary
voice little justice. Between the years of 1984 and 2002, I had the great
pleasure of seeing her sixteen times in concert, each time marveling at what a
true vocal powerhouse she was. Adding to those musical experiences, I often had
the tremendous thrill of meeting her after the show for autographs and photos.

Branigan also holds a special place in my heart for
kickstarting my mid(ish)-life writing career. Following her tragic passing, I
had the surreal experience of attending two estate auctions out in Westhampton
Beach, both commissioned by her family. At the end of both auctions, I was
fortunate to have acquired Branigan’s original marriage certificate, her
personal wedding album and invitation, original proof sheets of unpublished photos
of the singer, and never used photos from the shoot for her SELF CONTROL album
cover, among other mementos. But even with these cherished pieces of the late
singer, my heart was broken; this was the first celebrity to whom I had an
attachment who had passed away. So, as many writers do, I channeled my grief
into a tribute article that editor Steve Cyrkin was kind enough to buy and
publish in his magazine, AUTOGRAPH COLLECTOR, a small, specialty-niche
publication for enthusiasts of the titular hobby with a respectable national
circulation. That led to a lengthy professional association with the magazine
and a considerable collection of articles and interviews with celebrities like
Meg Tilly, Terri Nunn of Berlin, Martha Davis of The Motels, BAYWATCH actor Michael
Bergin, Johnathon Schaech, FALCON CREST’s Jamie Rose, and too many others to
count. That gig gave me the confidence to pen my first novel, then edit my
first anthology, and the rest—as they say—is history.

Today, on what would have been Branigan’s 65th birthday, I’m
left with fond memories of a gracious woman who loved her fans and always took
the time to tell them so, a modest musical legacy that only hinted at the
talent beneath the glossy productions, and bittersweet thoughts of “what if…”.
Most of all, I’m left with deep gratitude that Branigan chose to share her
singular voice with the world and that her recordings will ensure that that
voice will never be forgotten.

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About the Author...

Vince Liaguno is the Bram Stoker Award-winning editor of UNSPEAKABLE HORROR: FROM THE SHADOWS OF THE CLOSET (Dark Scribe Press 2008), an anthology of queer horror fiction, which he co-edited with Chad Helder, and BUTCHER KNIVES & BODY COUNTS, a collection of essays on the formula, frights, and fun of the slasher film. His debut novel, 2006’s THE LITERARY SIX, was a tribute to the slasher films of the 80’s and won an Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) for Horror and was named a finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards in the Gay/Lesbian Fiction category.

He is currently at work on his second novel and preparing for the release of UNSPEAKABLE HORROR 2: ABOMINATIONS OF DESIRE (Evil Jester Press, 2017), the second volume in the award-winning anthology series of queer dark fiction.

He currently lives on the eastern end of Long Island, New York. He is a member—and former Secretary—of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC).